Battle of Unsleben

The Battle of Unsleben (12 AD) was a battle fought between the Roman Empire and the Suebi in the present-day region of Bavaria in southern Germany. Legio XI Germania, commanded by Dionysius Iovinianus, was wiped out by the Suebi tribe on a dark battlefield that terrified the Roman legionnaries.

History
Emperor Augustus dispatched Dionysius Iovinianus with the 1,078-strong Legio XI Germania to launch a raid into Germania to assist the Roman general Germanicus in his campaign against the Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine River. The Romans marched into the woods of southern Germany, where the Suebi chief Drothulf and his band of 854 warriors waited to ambush the Romans. The Roman legion consisted of hastati (apart from Iovinianus, who rode on horseback with his bodyguards), while the Suebi had a unit of light cavalry, two units of cavalry, some javelinmen, and swordsmen.

Battle
The Suebi briefly skirmished with the Romans on their right flank, with their light cavalry killing one Roman soldier with a javelin before fleeing out of range of the Romans, who used their shields to protect themselves from the javelins. The Suebi lured the Romans into attacking their warriors, who ambushed them and charged them. The Suebi army fought off the Roman soldiers on their right first, and Iovinianus escaped on his horse while his infantry were massacred. Then, the Suebi charged the Romans on the left flank that were engaging their general in melee. The Suebi warriors routed the Romans, and the Suebi cavalry charged the retreating Roman legionnaries and slaughtered them as they retreated. Only 273 Romans out of almost 1,100 Roman troops survived, with the rest of them being slain by the barbarians. The Suebi cheered, banging their shields with their axes and celebrating their massacre of a whole Roman legion.